Mountain West coaches (except for UNLV’s Lon Kruger) have long sought a neutral site for the MWC Tournament. Administrators, while sympathetic to the coaches, keep an eye on the bottom line _ and that means Las Vegas as a fan draw.

Starting with tonight’s semifinals, the MWC has everything it ever wanted (save for an automatics BCS berth). Utah, Wyoming, BYU and San Diego State are playing on a neutral floor at the Thomas and Mack Center.

Although Wyoming crowds appear somewhat down from past years in Las Vegas, the Cowboys still have the biggest following here of the last four teams.

No. 5 seed UNLV was ousted in the first round although conference commissioner Craig Thompson clings to hope the Rebels will make the NCAA field based on a strong nonconference highlight by winning at Louisville.

The school presidents gathered here Friday morning to discuss, among other items, future sites for the tournament after the Las Vegas contract runs out following next season. Denver submitted one of five bids, but tournament attendance was so poor at the Pepsi Center from 2004-06 that the budget-minded presidents moved it back to Las Vegas.

Thompson, by the way, said it would be difficult to have both the MWC Tournament and Women’s Final Four in Denver in 2012.

For all the concern about tournament gate this year given the economy, Thompson said the first day was only $1,300 under a year ago when UNLV played the night instead of afternoon session. The real test comes tonight and for the championship game when UNLV sits out.

In this sad (for those of us in the media) era of shrinking press rooms, it’s heartening to see someone leaving for a better gig as opposed to no job.

After veteran Denver TV/radio announcer Tim Neverett calls the Mountain West finale Saturday at 5 p.m. for a Vs. national audience, he reports back to baseball spring training. Neverett will be taking over as the Pittsburgh Pirates play-by-play man.

It’s a dream job for someone who broke into radio at age 19 calling a Pirates minor league affiliate. He will be missed in Denver but hopes to return for part of football season on The Mtn.

Some thoughts before departing from the 2009 men’s and women’s Big 12 basketball tournaments in Oklahoma City:

The conference is blessed to have two outstanding options for the league tournaments. College basketball, of both genders, matters in Kansas City and Oklahoma City. Welcome signs adorn the storefronts of businesses. Hotels made up special Big 12 “Do not disturb” signs to hang from doorknobs. School pennants and conference banners are displayed everywhere.

And talk about convenience … the two arenas in Oklahoma City are across the street from each other and the restaurant-and-entertainment district, Bricktown (similar to Denver’s LoDo), is just two blocks away.

The 2010 and 2011 Big 12 tournaments will be played in Kansas City. Once again, the conference will hold its spring meetings at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in May. If the league’s presidents/chancellors have any sense, they should award the 2012 tournaments to Oklahoma City and then rotate the championships between the two cities.

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In addition to being seeded 12th (last) here, a lot of similarities between the Colorado men’s and women’s teams became evident.

Both were too sloppy with the ball. Both are two small. Both have an outstanding player (Cory Higgins and Brittany Spears) but struggle to find a secondary or tertiary scoring option.

Both struggle with rebounding. To help in that department, coaches Jeff Bzdelik and Kathy McConnell-Miller plan to sign an athletic forward during the spring signing period in April. Read more…

Ask Colorado women’s hoops coach Kathy McConnell-Miller about her incoming freshman class and, well, that smile is all you need to know.

Especially exciting, McConnell-Miller said, was landing three in-state players. Speaking to reporters in Oklahoma City following her team’s first-round exit from the Big 12 Tournament, McConnell-Miller commented on the class.

JANEESA “CHUCKY” JEFFERY, 5-10 combo guard, Colorado Springs Sierra HS: “Coming out of high school, Chucky is more talented than (Brittany) Spears was at the same age. She’s athletic. She’s finesse. She’s a hard worker. She’s got the body to compete in the Big 12. If it’s any indication of how Spears has developed (18-point scorer this season), we expect to see great things from Chucky. She plays 1 (point guard), she plays 2 (shooting guard), she can post up.

“I think she’s the most underrated player in the (state of Colorado’s) class. If she is at Highlands Ranch, there is no question she is state player of the year, there’s no question. I think she is going to be a fan favorite. She is going to be an immediate addition to our program.”

BRENNA MALCOLM-PECK AND MEAGAN MALCOLM-PECK, 6-2 guards (identical twins), Horizon HS: “Meagan, right now, is regarded as the better of the two. But I will tell you that if you went and watched them, I don’t know that you could discern which one is better.

“They are a treat. Sometimes it’s one. Sometimes it’s the other. Sometimes it’s both. The complement each other well on the floor. Their skills are alike because they work on the same things. It’s hard for me to say one is a better shooter or the other is better at something else. Collectively, they could both shoot the 3. Meagan, right now, would probably be the one that would want the ball in her hands at the end of a game. Brenna would be the one that would want to set the screen for her to make sure that Meagan got that shot. Read more…